The ALA presented their many Youth Media Awards this morning on the closing day of their winter meeting in Seattle (Thanks to the organizers for the live webcast of this year’s presentation.) The Newbery medal went to Katherine Applegate for THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN (HarperCollins Children’s); the Caldecott went to Jon Klassen for THIS IS NOT MY HAT (Candlewick). Among other honorees, TK won the Nick Lake Michael L. Printz Award for IN DARKNESS (Bloomsbury Young Readers) and Tamora Pierce won the Margaret A. Edwards Award for “significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.” For the complete list of […]
Archives for January 2013
People, Etc.: Former ICM Head Jeff Berg’s New Agency, Resolution
Former chairman of ICM Jeff Berg, who left the company last fall after a protracted battle with other executives, will launch a new agency, Resolution, this week. Deadline reports the new agency has set up a Los Angeles office and will grow “to an anticipated staffing level of 35 agents plus support staff in LA, 25 agents in NYC, and 10 agents in Nashville” over the next six months. Among those set to join Resolution are book-to-film agents Rich Green, moving over after 9 years with CAA, and Shari Smiley, who operated her own outfit for the past year after […]
BN Hopes for An Orderly Reduction of 20 Stores A Year, For A Decade
CEO of Barnes & Noble’s retail group Mitchell Klipper reiterates the company’s expectations for an orderly slimming of their bookstore base to the WSJ. BN forecasts that they will close about 20 stores a year for the forseeable future–meaning that “in 10 years we’ll have 450 to 500 stores,” Klipper said, compared to 689 stores right now. (They reached “peak superstores” in 2008, when the chain comprised 726 BN outlets.) One key to whether that strategy plays out as predicted is their lease portfolio, since bookstores are a real estate business as much as anything. BN has a very flexible […]
Harper to Move Downtown In About A Year
HarperCollins confirmed in a brief statement Friday what was reported as pending a month ago: The company has signed a lease for new office at 195 Broadway and they “anticipate moving in the spring of 2014.” Earlier accounts had them looking at about 200,000 square feet of space, comparable to what the publisher currently occupies.
Legal: Judge Throws Out Negligence Case Against Penguin, Michael Capuzzo; Licensing Company Sues Penguin for Contract Breach
Earlier this month a New Jersey federal court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against Penguin and author Michael Capuzzo that alleged his 2010 book THE MURDER ROOM was negligent in recounting an extramarital affair. Significantly, as we’ll detail below, the judge accepted standard publishing process for relying on the author’s work and warranties and not performing detailed “fact-checking.” As we reported in March 2011, plaintiff Joan Crescenz sued for defamation claiming that a 30-year relationship with employer and forensic sculptor Frank Bender described in the book never happened. Crescenz also said the allegations violated her privacy and that she wasn’t […]
Corporate: Quarto Changes to Aurum Publishing Group In UK; “Significant” Shortfall at Quercus; McGraw-Hill Education Takes 20 Percent Stake in Area9 Aps
Following the management change at The Quarto Group (with the ouster of longtime chairman Laurence Orbach, installing Tim Chadwick in his place, and the planned ascension of Marcus Leaver to ceo), they are creating a new UK publishing group, under a new name. The Aurum Publishing Group will unite the combined lists of Frances Lincoln (now fully integrated into Quarto, after the 2011 acquistion), Aurum Press, Jacqui Small, Union Books and Apple Press under as a single corporate division — and they will now all be housed in the same building, a new office in Angel, London. Aurum Press, incidentally, […]